MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called on Washington to waste no time and implement its pledge to separate moderate opposition from terrorist groups in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday after Lavrov’s telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
"Lavrov drew attention to the violation of the regime of cessation of hostilities by illegal armed groups and called on Washington to waste no time to implement its promise to separate units of the moderate opposition from Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups not covered by the ceasefire," the ministry said. "He noted that the list of groups signing agreements on ceasefire observance that was received from the U.S. side has a number of openly terrorist groups having close contacts with Jabhat al-Nusra."
Kerry promises to take efforts
The ministry went on to say that Kerry promised to take efforts to speed up resolution of problems stemming from armed groups’ threats not to let humanitarian cargoes to Aleppo.
"The state secretary focused attention on the necessity to ensure humanitarian access to Aleppo as soon as possible. After Lavrov explained the real state of things in this province, he promised to take efforts to push the solution of problems linked with the necessity of proper arrangement of humanitarian convoys in line with the United Nations rules and with threats coming from illegal armed groups near Aleppo not to let humanitarian cargoes to the city’s eastern districts," the ministry said.
"The focus was made on the implementation of the Russia-U.S. agreement of September 9 aiming to launch a peace process in Syria, to relieve the humanitarian situation and to organize joint efforts against terrorism," the ministry said.
Ceasefire is generally observed
The two top diplomats noted that the ceasefire regime in Syria was observed in general and called for making it permanent.
"The two foreign policy chiefs expressed satisfaction with the way the ceasefire regime was being observed and called for making the truce permanent," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"The Russian foreign minister once again called to make public the entire package of the Russia-U.S. agreements finally reached at a meeting on September 9, 2016 and to have this package approved by the United Nations Security Council," the ministry said.